Final link in long-awaited Keene extension to open
The north-south County Road 1 will ease congestion from South Pasadena to Palm Harbor.
By LORRI HELFAND
Published March 6, 2004
CLEARWATER - At noon Tuesday, Pinellas County plans to unveil the final link in the County Road 1 corridor, a brand new span of Keene Road from Drew Street to Sunset Point Road.
The 11/2-mile stretch completes a route almost 24 miles long, from Pasadena Avenue in South Pasadena to Alderman Road in Palm Harbor.
Increasingly crowded north-south roadways, such as U.S. 19, prompted county officials to start planning this thoroughfare as far back as 20 years ago.
"It's primarily to relieve north-south traffic, which is overcongested," Jim Collins, division engineer for Pinellas County Public Works.
By 2015, the county predicts that 28,000 vehicles will use the stretch daily.
The county began work on the new span, essentially a four-lane divided highway with sidewalks, bike lanes, curbs and gutters, in November 2002.
Some local merchants are eager for the free-flowing traffic to boost their revenues.
Janine Scott, store manager at Chainwheel Drive bicycle and fitness store, had a smile from ear to ear as she discussed the project's completion.
"We think it's fabulous," Scott said. "Not to mention it has bike lanes."
But Debbie Mattingley, who lives around the corner on N Mars Avenue, said she and some of her neighbors are wary.
Mattingley remembers family outings on the field near her yard, where her neighbors used to walk their dogs. Now, the field is a highway.
"I'm not too happy," Mattingley said. "It's in my backyard."
And motorists have already been maneuvering through barricades to use the new road.
"People are driving up and down that like it's already opened. I was walking on Keene, stepped on the curb and started to step down and a car whizzed by," Mattingley said. "I mean, they're already whizzing up and down the street."
She hoped they would put in some traffic calming measures. But that's not going to happen. It wouldn't be practical along a major north-south route like this, Collins said.
The county is more than ready to show off the final span in the long awaited project, county spokesman Len Ciecieznski, said.
"This is going to open up 23.6 miles," Ciecieznski said. "People will be able to go from Park Street up Starkey Road and Keene, all the way up to Omaha Street in Palm Harbor."
The $6.6-million project was funded by Penny for Pinellas sales tax, county impact fees and the county Incentive Grant program.
In August 2002, crews began work on a Keene Road extension project from Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard to Drew Street. Last May, that $3.8-million county project was completed.
Over the next four years, there will be at least five more renovation and widening projects scheduled along the corridor. But the county doesn't plan to block off sections of the new route during any of those projects, Collins said.
In a month, the county plans to modernize a span from Tampa Road to its end at Alderman Road. It will remain one lane in each direction, but turn lanes, bicycle lanes, new curbs and gutters will be added.
